Dumping-car.



N0- 808,'750. FATENTED JAN. 2, 1906. F. M. HUBBARD & G. E. TAYLOR.

DUMPING GAR.

APPLICATION FILED M0123. 190s.

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v 6 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

N0- 808,'750. PATENTED JAN. 2, 1906. F. M. HUBBARD & C. E. TAYLOR.

DUMPING UAR.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 23, 1908.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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No. 808,750. PATENTED JAN. 2, 1906. F. M. HUBBARD & o. E.- TAYLOR.

DUMPING CAR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2a, 1903.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

No. 808,750. PATENTEDJAN. 2, 1906. F. M. HUBBARD & c. E. TAYLOR.

DUMPING GAR.

APPLICATION FILED H0123, 1903.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

m.ia. 24 24 Zb UNITED sarArns PATENT orrrcn.

FRED M. HUBBARD AND CHARLES E. TAYLOR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO NATIONAL COAL DUMP CAR COMPANY, OF RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

DUiVlFlNG-CAIR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 2, 1906.

1'0 Ll/7 ,0711 it TIY/(LZ/ con/007 11,:

Be it known that we, FRED M. HUBBARD and CHARLEs E. TAYLOR, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dumping-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in dumping-cars, having reference more particularly to that class of dumping-cars which are provided with drop-bottoms for the discharge of the load.

The general object of the invention is to provide an improved car of the class referred to adapted for the transportation of ores, coal, and generally similar material; and to this end our invention consists in a dumpingcar characterized structurally by the provision of floor members hinged along the longitudinal axis of the car-floor and supported at their outer ends by depending hinged struts, the latter resting at their lower ends in underlying longitudinal supports from which the lower ends of said struts are adapted to be displaced to permit the hinged leaves of the bottom to drop and discharge the load beneath the side walls of the car-body, together with means which may be manually operable for lowering the loaded hinged floor members to dumping or discharging posit-ion and subsequently raising them to load receiving and carrying position.

Other and more detail constructional features, in which our invention may be embodied, will be hereinafter described, in connection with the acccompanyingdrawings, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view, and Fig; 2 a side elevation, of a complete dumping-car embodying our presentinvention in an improved form. Fig. 3 is atop plan view, enlarged, of one end of the car, the hinged floor member on one side being removed to show the underlying supports and the surface plate of the other hinged floor member being broken away to more fully disclose the construction of the framing of the latter. Fig. 4: is a transverse sectional view through the car, also on an enlarged scale. Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevational view of that portion of the car shown in Fig. 3. Figs.

6' and 7 are enlarged detail front elevation and transverse vertical sectional views, respectively, of a chain-pulley and its worm and worm wheel operating mechanism, through the agency of which the hinged floor members are raised and lowered. Figs. 8 and 9 are top plan and end views, respectively, ofa

rocking shoe, which constitutes an oscillatable support for the lower ends or feet of the floorsupporting struts; and Fig. 10 is an enlarged detail fragmentary view illustrating the manner in which the hinged floor-coverings overlap at their adjacent margins directly above their hinged joints, thereby preventing the presence of a joint or crack between said members when the latter are dropped.

The car is preferably constructed of iron or steel throughout, the load-receiving portion thereof consisting of a rectangular structure made up of side walls 12 and end walls 13, side sills 14, end sills 15, and center sills 16, Fig. 3. Certain of the posts or uprights 12, which constitute elements of the skeleton framing of the side walls of the car, are extended downwardly and inwardly beneath the plane of the floor of the car. as shownin Figs. {1 and 5, and support at their lower ends longitudinally-extending angle-irons 17, disposed with their open sides upwardly in substantially trough-like form, as best shown in the sectional view, Fig. 4c. Secured to and rising from and between the center sills 16, as best shown in Figs. 3 and 4:, are a series of yokes 18, through the upper ends of which is passed a longitudinallyextending hinge pintle 19. Between the center sills l6 and the longitudinal angle-beams 17 are disposed at intervals a series of generally triangular-shaped trans verse truss members, which are preferably formed by metal plates 20, bounded on their upper inclined edges (which meet at a point coincident with the hinge-rod 19) by angle-iron strips 21 and similarly bounded on their lower horizontal edges by similar angle-iron strips 22. The lower margins of adjacent trans verse members 20 may be connected and reinforced by diagonal bracing (shown at 23 in Fig. 3) to increase the rigidity of the underframing of the car. The fioor member of the car-body is made up of a plurality of leaflike sections, as best shown in the plan view, Fig. 1, each of these sections comprising, essentially, a surface plate 24:, supported upon laterally-extendin g angle-iron beams 25, which latter at their inner ends are pivoted upon the hinge-rod 19, preferably between the parallel companion members of each of the yokes 18, as best shown in Fig. 3. The outer ends of the series of floor-beams 25 on each side of the car are connected and tied together by angle-beams 26, while an oppositely-disposed angle-beam 27 is secured to the under side of the floor-plates parallel with and just outside the angle-beams 26, this latter beam or sill having secured thereto at intervals short horizontal arms 28, extending beyond and beneath the lower margin of the side wall 12 of the car. Opposite the inner end of each of the short arms 28 and positioned within the space created by the inversely-disposed angle-beams 26 and 27 is a casting 29, having depending ears or lugs, in and between which is pivoted the upper end of a depending strut 30. The lower ends or feet of the struts 30 are supported by the angle-beams 17 through amechanism which enables them to be tripped and thrown inwardly of the car-frame at times when it is desired to dropthe hinged sect-ions of the floor to permit the discharge of the load. This mechanism will next be described as follows: Fitted to seat in the angle-beams 17, beneath each of the struts 30, are a pair of journal-bearing blocks 31, which receive the end spindles 32, Figs. 8 and 9, of a shoe 32. This latter has formed in its upper face a socket 32, adapted to seat the lower rounded end or foot of the strut 30. Axially through the several rocker-shoes 32 and their projecting journals 32 is formed a squared bore 32, through which passes a squared rod 33, which projects through the end of the car-frame and has fast on its end an operating-lever 34, extending upwardly in front of the car end. A latch 35, pivoted to the end sill 36 of the carbody, engages said lever and normally maintains the same in an upright position, wherein the rocker-shoes 32 are maintained operative to seat and support the struts 30. Referring next to the mechanism for raising and lowering the hinged floor-sections, 37 designates each of a series of bracket-plates secured at suitably-spaced intervals to the outer surfaces of the side walls of the car-body, each of said brackets having a projecting spindle 38, Figs. 6 and 7, on which is journaled the hub 39 of acombined pulley and worm-wheel, the latter being shown at 40, directly behind the worm-wheel 41. The bracket-plate 37 has integral therewith side and front walls constituting a hood or a covering for the parts last described, the side walls also affording journal-bearings for a longitudinally-extending operating-rod 42, on which are splined, directly above and in mesh with the several worm-wheels 41, worms 43. Chains 44, anchored to the peripheries of the several pulleys 40, extend around the latter and are connected each by a clevis 45 to the ends of the arms 28, projectinghorizontally and laterally through the lower margin of the side walls of the car-body, the latter being vertically slotted for a limited distance, as indicated in Fig. 5, to accommodate said arms. The pivotpin connecting the clevis and the arm preferably carries on its outer ends rollers 46, which bear against the lower margin of the side wall of the car-body, and thereby when the hinged floor members are elevated tie the side walls of the car to the latter and prevent outward bulging of said side walls under the lateral thrust of theload. The operating-rod 42 extends through each end wall of the car and is provided at its extremities with an operating crank-arm 47, whereby said rod may be manually turned to actuate the several worm-w heels 41 in either direction, and thereby through the connections described effect the gradual raising and lowering of the hinged floor-sections.

The inner meeting margins of the several floor-sections are in accordance with our invention so disposed as to obviate the creation or existence of a crack or open joint between them when the sections are dropped to discharging position. Fig. 10 of the drawings illustrates in enlarged detail our preferred construction of this joint, from which it will be seen that one of the floor-covering plates 24 is depressed along a line lying slightly to one side of the hinge-rod 19, as shown at 24, while the marginal portion of the same floorplate lying beyond said depression is curved or rounded, so as to present convex upper surfaces directly overlying the hinge-rod 19, said rounded surface of the plate being marked 24 The inner margin of the opposite floorplate is also slightly bent down and rounded, as shown at 24, and overlies substantially the entire convexed marginal portion 24 of said first-named plate when the plates are in horizontal or load-carrying position. When the floor-sections are dropped, these overlapping curved margins have a relative sliding movement, but remain always in surface contact, thereby preventing the presence of an open joint between them in which ore or other material carried by the car might settle, and thus interfere with the subsequent closing of the car-bottom.

It is desirable in a car of this character designed to carry iron ore and other material in a more or less finely divided condition to guard the joints existing between the floor members and the side and end walls against the escape of material through these joints and the clogging and packing of said joints by the material. For this purpose We line the inner walls of the entire car-body along their lower margins with molding-strips 48, which, as will be seen by reference to the cross-sectional view, Fig.

In operation when the car is receiving and transporting its load the several relatively movable parts thereof occupy the positions shown in the drawings, from which it will be seen that the several strut members 30, cooperating with the hinge-rod 19, mounted above the center sills, as shown,constitute a direct and secure support for the load, the vertical gravity strain on the outer longitudinal portions of the hinged floor members being resisted principally by tensional strains through the vertical members 12 of the car-body frame, while the corresponding gravity strain on the inner longitudinal portions of the floor members is directly resisted by the center sills 16 and by compressional strains exerted at the apex of the transverse truss members 20, the several parts receiving the gravity strains of the load being so rigidly united and bonded together that the strains are practically and effectively resisted in every direction. WVhen the load is to be discharged. the rods 33 are rocked by releasing the latch 35 and throwing the leverarms 34: inwardly of the car, which has the effect of turning the rocker-shoes 32 so as to trip the feet of the struts 30, throwing the latter inwardly of the trough-beams 17, where they are free to drop as the floor members are lowered. This latter operation is effected in an obvious manner by turning the rods 42 by their respective crank-arms 47 in a direction to unwind the chains 4% from their respective pulleys, thus permitting the hinged floor members to drop until they come to rest upon the inclined upper margins 21 of the transverse truss members 20, whereupon the load slides by gravity out through the openings between the depending suspension members 12 of the car-frame. The load having been thus discharged, the cranks 47 are turned in the opposite direction, thus winding up the chains 44: and elevating the hinged floor-sections to horizontal or load-carrying position, the feet of the struts 3O automatically returning to positions directly above the shoes 32, whereupon by throwing the lever 34: again to upright position and latching it therein said rocker-shoes are returned to supporting position beneath the struts. It may here be observed that while the struts 30 are primarily depended upon to resist the weight of theload when in transportation, yet the worm-gearing employed to raise and lower the floor-sections constitutes, in connection with the pulleys and chains, a self-locking suspension-support for the outer margins of the floor members and enables the latter even when carrying a load to be gradually lowered manually, as well as to be similarly raised when the car is empty.

It is evident that the details of construction and relative arrangement of parts, as hereinabove described and illustrated in the drawings, might be considerably modified without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention, and

hence we do not limit the latter, except to the extent indicatedin specific claims, to the exact construction shown and described, the latter being illustrative merely of an approved form in which the invention may be embodied.

We claim- 1. In a dumping-car, the combination with the side and end walls of a car-body and a suitable supporting-underframing, of a-car-bottom composed of floor-sections hinged to the underframing along the longitudinal median line of the car-bottom, displaceable strut members hinged to and supporting the outer side margins of said hinged floor-sections in a horizontal load-carrying position, means for tripping and throwing inwardly the lower ends of said hinged strut members, and means for raising and lowering the outer side margins of said hinged floor-sections between load-carryingand load-discharging positions, substantially as described.

2. In a dumping-car, the combination with a suitable supporting-underframing, of a carfloor composed Wholly of a plurality of sections hinged to the underframing along the longitudinal median line of the car-floor, depending strut members hinged to the outer margins of said hinged floor-sections, shoes supporting the lower ends of said strut members, and means for rocking said shoes to trip and displace said strut members from supporting position, substantially as described.

3. In a dumping-car, the combination with the side and end walls of a car-body and a suitable supporting-underframing, of a car-bottom composed of floor-sections hinged to the underframing along the longitudinal median line of the car-bottom, manually operable suspension devices mounted on the side walls of the car-body and connected to the outer margins of said hinged floor-sections, displaceable strut members hinged to and supporting the'outer side margins of said floorsections in a horizontal or load-carrying position, pivoted shoes having sockets adapted to seat the lower ends of said strut members, and means for rocking said shoes to trip said strut members, substantially as described.

4. In a dumping-car, the combination with the side and end walls of a car-body and a suitable supporting-underframing, of a car-bottom composed of floor-sections hinged to the underframing along the longitudinal median line of the car-bottom, a series of pulleys mounted on the side walls of the car-body, flexible connections between said pulleys and the outer margins of said hinged floor-sections, and gearing connected to and actuating said pulleys, substantially as described.

5. In a dumping-car, the combination with the side and end walls of a car-body and a suitable supporting-underframing, of a car-bottom composed of floor-sections hinged to the underframing along the longitudinal median line of the car-bottom, said floor-sections hav- IIO ing aseries of extension members projecting outwardly beneath the side walls of the carbody, a series of pulleys mounted on the side walls of the car-body, flexible connections between said pulleys and said extension members, devices carried by the latter engaging and laterally bonding the lower margins of the side walls of the car-body when said floorsections are in load-carrying position, and gearing connected to and actuating said pulleys, substantially as described.

6. In a dumping-car, the combination with the side and end walls of a car-body and a suitable supporting-underframing, of a car-bot tom composed of floor-sections hinged to the underframing along the longitudinal median line of the car-body, a series of hangers rigidly secured to and depending from the side walls of the car-body, a longitudinally-extending inverted angle-iron secured to the lower ends of said hangers on each side of the car-body, aplurality of struts pivoted to the outer side margins of said hinged floorsections, a series of oscillatory shoes carried by said angle-irons beneath said struts, respectively, and an actuating-rod extending through the series of shoes on each side of the car whereby said shoes may be simultaneously rocked to trip and displace the lower ends of said strut members supported thereby to permit the fall of the floor-sections, substantially as described.

7. In a dumping-car, the combination with a suitable underframing, of a car-floor composed of a plurality of sections hinged to the underframing along the longitudinal median line of the car-floor, the floor-section on one side of said longitudinal median line being provided with a downwardly-otfset upwardlyconvexed marginal extension overlying said median line, and the floor-section on the opposite side of said longitudinal median line having a downwardly-turned marginal portion overlying said downwardly-offset convex marginal portion of the other floor-section, substantially as described.

8. In a dump-car of the class described, the combination of a supporting-framework, a drop-bottom therefor formed of a plurality of swinging sections pivotally secured to the framework of the car, a plurality of pulleys with their axes transversely arranged and rotatably mounted on the supporting-frame of the car, chain mechanism securing such pulleys and swinging sections of the drop-bottom together, and mechanism extending longitudinally of the car at right angles to the axes of the pulleys and operatively connected with such pulleys for operating or rotating such pulley mechanisms, substantially as described.

9. In a dump-car of the class described, the combination of a supporting-framework, a drop-bottom portion formed of a plurality of swinging sections pivotally secured at their inner edges thereto, a plurality of pulley mechanisms rotatably mounted on the frame of the car transversely thereof, chain mechanism securing the pulleys to the swinging bottom-sections, an operating-bar,and means connecting such operating-bar to each and every pulley to rotate the same, substantially as described.

FRED M. HUBBARD. (JHARLES E. TAYLOR. l/Vitnesses:

SAMUEL N. POND, FREDERICK O. GooDwIN. 

